I posted this on my Instagram Stories last week and asked if people would want to see the recipe and the overwhelming response was a big fat YES so here it is! I have been doing the Whole30 this month and I’ve found it pretty effortless this time around. The only time I’ve struggled is Saturday evenings when I am cooking and desperate for a glass of wine but I’ve been able to work through it through sheer determination and telling myself repeatedly that it’s just one month. ONE MONTH. That’s it. I even went to an event last night where they were serving Prosecco and lovely look canapes and managed to resist. So ya know, #winning.

It’s essentially a 30-day elimination diet and one of the most challenging aspects of the Whole30 is coming up with ideas for breakfast. There are limited options available when you have to cut out any kind of grain, sugar and dairy. Eggs are allowed but having them prepared in the same way every day can get pretty monotonous. So we decided that we’d try something a little different at the weekend when we had just a bit more time to prepare a meal and landed on Huevos Rancheros.

There are a lot of recipes for this around but ours was adapted from Hemsley & Hemsley. We made a few changes to that one and consulted a few others and it was Wayne who created the dish. I had to laugh as he was serving because he told me to ‘grab the camera’ knowing that this one was going to look pretty damn good. And it was a good call. The meal itself is perfect for a light brunch and certainly won’t weigh you down.

The homemade guacamole was blitzed up so quickly with a small hand-held blender but would work just as well in a larger blender if that’s all you have or if you want it a little chunkier, just crush it all with a fork!

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 4 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Ghee (or Coconut Oil)
• 1 Tin of Tomato Sauce
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 handful of fresh spinach, roughly chopped plus some for garnish
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Parsley for garnish

For the Guacamole

• 1 large ripe avocado
• 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• The juice of ½ lime
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 2 Tablespoons of chopped red onion
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 1 handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped

Method

Make the sauce first, frying the onion in ghee until it becomes translucent, about 6 minutes stirring occasionally over medium heat. Add the garlic, chopped red pepper, chopped bell pepper, bay leaves and paprika to the pan and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the tin of tomatoes and season with salt and pepper and leave to simmer for around 10 minutes.

In the interim, make your guacamole. Chop the tomatoes into quarters, halve the avocado, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh and place in a bowl. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and then with a small hand-blender, blend until smooth.

Check the seasoning of the tomato sauce, adding any additional salt/pepper to taste and stir in the chopped spinach until it’s wilted. Using a spoon, make 4 wells in the sauce and crack an egg into each well. The eggs will poach in the sauce. Cover the pan and leave for around 4-5 minutes until the egg whites are white and the yolks are still runny.

Using a large spoon, place onto plates and scatter with fresh chopped spinach and sprinkle with parsley.

And that’s it – a gorgeous breakfast or brunch for a lazy weekend. If you aren’t on a paleo diet or doing Whole30, you could easily add some cheese on top or serve it the traditional way on top of tortillas but it’s genuinely great just as it is. Is this something you’d serve up for breakfast? Let me know in the comments!